Things I'd like to (someday) do

Lately, I’ve been thinking quite a bit about different things that I’d like to do during my lifetime, hobbies I’d like to explore, places I’d like to go, etc (provided that money, physical fitness, whatever isn’t a factor).  Mainly because I’m on the verge of graduating from college and moving on to other things (still looking at grad schools and such), but for some reason, amidst the hustle and flow of my everyday life, my mind keeps coming back to a few things that I’d like to do:

Climb Mt. Everest.  Yeah, I know I’m not the most fit person and I have no climbing/rappelling/mountain experience, but it’s not like I’m grotesquely incapable of doing this if I train and put everything into it (I’ve always had big dreams).  Sure, this probably won’t happen for a while (I’d first need to amass $65,000-$100,000 for the climb alone), but I think that it would be the most amazing thing to stand at the highest point in the world and look out over it, and just think about the magnificence of where you are.  I love moments where you are speechless and completely taken by the awesome power of everything and life in general.

Run a Marathon.  (Athena, I’m sure you have something to say on this one).  Running seems to be my new hobby of choice, and I think it’s because I’ve always like pushing boundaries and limits (my own as well as others).  I grew up a pudgy kid with bad asthma and weak lungs who couldn’t really do much physical activity, and who would want to anyways?  Not me.  But lately I’ve joined a gym and started working out, and I’m really enjoying it.  I can’t run far yet, but I’ve improved significantly, and I’ve found that I really get excited by the mental discipline and head games that I get to play while I’m doing it.  I particularly like running until I can’t run any more, and then making myself run for a few more minutes, or another quarter of a mile, or whichever other milestone I arbitrarily set for myself.  I know that I’ve got a long way to go, but like I said before, I like to dream big, and I think that if I keep up with it, that I might just be able to pull it off and squeak one out.  Probably not for a while, though.

Stand in the Oval Office.  It’d be sweet.  ‘Nuff said.

Have a building at Mount Union named after me.  This might be the influence of Vi Bica-Ross, who provides my scholarship and who’ve I’ve developed a pretty decent relationship with over the past few years, and it might be the influence of the many people I’ve heard talk at luncheons, dinners, ceremonies, etc. who talk about “how great it is to give something back.”  Maybe it’s the trustees, who I’ve gotten to know and who do give back, often generously.  I know it’s not perfect, but MUC has treated me pretty well, and, if I end up making my first million (any suggestions?), I’d like to do something instead of blow it on TV’s and motorcycles.  Seems like a pretty good choice.

I’m sure there are more, and if I think of them, I’ll be sure to let you know.